Chapter 140: Mechanisms are Mechanisms! It's Not Like They Only Existed Today!

A wave of dual-lane, asymmetrical offense and defense directly caused the rhythm of the match to undergo a world-shaking change.

Both sides had one second-tier tower pushed down, which meant that the minion wave in one of the side lanes could easily be pushed deep into the enemy's heartland, posing a huge test for the side-lane split-pusher.

But viewers familiar with the LCK style all knew.

Operations during the lane-swapping phase are the very foundation of the Korean teams!

Logically speaking, this is the point in time when T1 would begin to execute their signature style, gradually clawing back the situation and dragging the game into their own power-spike period.

The Korean commentators, standing from a god's-eye view, were preparing to appreciate T1's picturesque operational skills.

Yet they suddenly discovered that T1's lineup seemed somewhat contradictory.

"T1, in this game, doesn't seem to have any heroes capable of actively finding the rhythm?" the Roaring Emperor said with some hesitation.

"Maokai's engage ability relies on Flash, Viktor mainly plays positional warfare, Camille has to split-push to farm first, and the support is a Yuumi."

"Yes," Wolf naturally had seen it long ago, his expression somewhat stern: "The first game went well because the opponent's Caitlyn system progressed too smoothly; in this game, we are lacking a character to find the rhythm."

"Could this be the opponent's draft design?"

T1's most proficient lane-swapping operation relies on the team's keen sense of smell and extreme discipline, constantly gnawing away at opportunities amidst strong offense and defense.

In a nutshell, it means you can't catch my people, but I can catch yours!

But why are they able to do these things?

Ye Bo was very curious about this, so he flipped through a large number of T1's match recordings and perceived some clues from them.

Finally, he summarized three points.

First, it is the team's extreme discipline, like a single piece of seamless steel plate.

But this point already showed signs of cracking during the mid-game operations of the first match; it seems that as long as the mid-lane is suppressed and unable to be distracted, cracks will appear in the steel plate.

Second, it is the formidable laning strength of the three lanes, which can often create individual advantages during the laning phase and then achieve positional breakthroughs during the lane-swapping phase.

This point is also ineffective in this game.

T1 selected a lineup with a slow early-game rhythm and was also hit by the opponent's perfect early-game offensive, so now there isn't a single lane with a positional advantage.

The third is the support!

In T1's shot-calling, Faker is the key decision-maker and the one who monitors and patches leaks; he is a commander biased toward defense and the overall situation.

Yet the main executor of the offense is not the jungler, Oner.

It is the support, Keria.

Ye Bo discovered that this support player has an extremely strong desire to "make things happen," which was also the case in the first game, even leading to the AD being left alone frequently in the mid-game.

So, what is the meaning of Yuumi?

Yuumi is a hero that has no way to "make things happen."

For some teams where the support is prone to dying or has shortcomings, this might be an advantage and the best way to smooth out the "support gap."

But at least for a team like T1, this will make them lack one rhythm engine!

If it's a winning game, it's not much of a problem.

But if it's a losing game like this, the rhythmic defect of lacking an engine will soon become apparent!

Why ban Azir? This is also the reason—because Azir has the ability to actively find the rhythm, while Viktor does not.

In effect, T1's two most important rhythm-generating points have been curbed by the lineup they selected themselves in this game.

Although Ye Bo is still learning in terms of understanding lane-swapping operations, he also has his own advantages.

He is very good at learning.

And he can fully exert the advantages of his heroes.

"Nunu swaps for Exhaust and catches Camille in the side lane again! Zeus really wants to fight 1v1 but just can't hit him!"

"Now the super-long minion waves in the top and bottom lanes mean huge pressure for T1 to manage the lanes!"

"T1 has successively organized several offensives on the mid-lane first tower, attempting to force the opponent to shift their focus; however, EDG's response is very clever, not falling for it at all, and even frequently managing to swap for resources in the side lanes."

"Wait, this resource trade-off and operational method, why does it feel a bit like T1's style?!"

Wawa agreed with his partner's view: "It seems now that T1 is quite like someone trapping themselves in their own cocoon; swapping the side-lane second towers helped them make up for the economy, but instead, it caused their mid-game operations to be tied up!"

At 14 minutes, T1's side lanes frequently showed leaks, Nunu's attack routes were truly hard to guard against, and the economic gap had already been rolled to 5k.

But the LCK commentary desk was still very optimistic.

They believed that T1's lineup would come with an economic advantage once it hit 20 minutes.

If they continue to drag it out, as long as they can withstand EDG's strongest mid-game offensive, they can turn the game around!

Approaching the 15-minute mark for the third dragon fight, it also happened to be the respawn of the second Rift Herald; two waves of key resource fights were spawning together.

This was destined to be the most critical turning point.

T1's deployment was to have Camille head to the upper area to wait for an opportunity to steal the Herald, while they attempted to stall in the lower area, even letting the jungler steal the dragon.

If EDG dispersed personnel to defend, Camille would directly use TP to join the dragon fight and create a numbers advantage—Camille's TP is 40 seconds faster than Aatrox's!

This was Li Xianghe's key decision once again, utilizing the only opportunity available at the moment to attempt a forced resource swap.

But Nunu was rolling the ball downward again at this moment.

The target was aimed directly at Viktor, who was pushing the lane in the bottom lane with Yuumi!

"Nunu is here again! Is the target Viktor this time!"

"Because their own top laner's TP isn't ready, EDG should be looking to get a kill first to be able to control both key map resources at the same time."

"But within ten steps behind him, Maokai is there for close protection; why does it look like Viktor is using himself as bait!"

Viego had also crept over from above, releasing Hallowed Mist.

But the Maokai hidden in the rear immediately moved forward to cast his ultimate, Nature's Grasp!

"Find the jungler!"

Don't look at Nunu's offensive build; with a Stopwatch + Q heal + the large shield from his ultimate, it is by no means an easy task for the two of them to kill him.

By comparison, although Viego had a Hexdrinker on him, he was definitely much easier to kill.

More importantly, even if they couldn't secure a kill on Viego, as long as they could knock the jungler out of combat, even if it meant sacrificing both mid and jungle ultimates, they could still swap for at least one epic jungle resource.

Whether it was the second Herald or the third soul-point dragon.

Both could drag out at least five more minutes of peaceful breathing room for T1!

Extending the originally 20-minute decisive battle to 25 or even 30 minutes, completely dragging it to the lineup's power-spike period.

This was Viktor using himself as bait!

"Jiejie! Use your ultimate to run!" Ye Bo felt something was wrong.

The high-speed snowball rolled in, and Viktor immediately flashed to the side.

The two T1 members were extremely decisive; Maokai didn't have information on Viego in the Hallowed Mist at all, yet he directly flashed into the fog "blindly," accurately locking him down with a W bind!

Jiejie's reaction was also very fast, casting 【Heartbreaker】 to force an {Untargetable} state.

But Maokai's W has a "lock-on follow" mechanism.

Although Maokai's ability to engage and find opportunities is not as good as Sejuani's, when it comes to point-and-click ganking ability, this Flash-W skill can be called an uncounterable ultimate technique!

Viego was bound the moment he landed, then knocked up by Q, while the giant tree barrier in the rear had already spread to supplement the crowd control.

Viktor followed up with a Gravity Field, exerting his arcane magic with all his might.

Ye Bo had just thrown his snowball and was preparing to turn around to rescue, attempting to use his ultimate + Everfrost control to trade kills... but he only saw Viego's full health bar disappear in a bizarre instant!

Ye Bo's eyes flashed, and he could only turn around and retreat quickly.

"Damn it! This Hexdrinker didn't seem to trigger again!" Jiejie cursed angrily, his tone somewhat frustrated.

Not just him.

Even Ye Bo, the two T1 players on the opposite side, and the commentary desks on both sides noticed this detail.

"It's this bug mechanism of Hexdrinker again!" Wawa almost let it slip.

"I feel like if Hexdrinker had triggered, Nunu could have come over to fight; the opponent had already used their skills and couldn't interrupt Nunu's ultimate!"

"This might mean losing the dragon!"

【Damn, it's this stupid bug again, it cost my Top Esports brother a top 9 finish! Now it's here to screw over EDG, unfair, unfair!】

【As everyone knows, if it hasn't been changed, it's a mechanism; how many years has this been around, and you're still calling it a bug?】

【Top Esports fans are really anxious; NBA referees just tell you afterward if they make a wrong call, are you really expecting a replay to get back into the top 16?】

【Anyway, the officials are really cowardly; two teams from their own region were screwed by this bug and they didn't even appeal. If this game is lost because of this, it definitely counts as an off-field kill!】

【A mechanism is a mechanism; it's not like it only existed today!】

【Exactly, exactly, wasn't this play by Faker awesome? What does it have to do with bugs or no bugs?】

Come to think of it, this was an episode from the first day of the second round of the group stage.

After Top Esports became "Vietnam's fermented bean curd," the fans of Top Esports couldn't accept it and watched the recording over and over, trying to find the culprit.

The result, of course, was that they did it all.

However, some sharp-eyed fans actually found a point that could be argued—during the final base demolition, Karthus's ultimate killed Lucian instantly, and Lucian's Hexdrinker didn't seem to trigger.

It was suspected that a bug was triggered!

So some Top Esports fans believed that it was all Hexdrinker's fault!

Of course, later on, anyone with a discerning eye knew after reviewing the replay that whether that Hexdrinker triggered or not wouldn't have changed the result at all.

Because the revived mid-lane Sett from GAM had already carried Lucian away; even if Lucian hadn't been sung to death by Karthus, he wouldn't have been able to auto-attack the base again and would have been smashed to death by Sett's two punches.

But until today, the officials haven't made any explanation as to whether that wave was a bug or not.

Yet, Hexdrinker is almost the only "output-oriented magic resist item" that can be built in this version, and it had just been buffed, making it an OP item for the version.

The price is cheap, the stats are explosive, and even if you act like that shield doesn't exist, the cost-effectiveness is still very high.

So even if everyone clearly knows it, as long as there is a lot of AP, it really is a must-build.

Li Xianghe truly felt that the damage he had just dealt was wrong; even with the Cat's buff, he shouldn't have been able to instantly kill a Viego with a Maw of Malmortius at full health.

But this was undoubtedly an opportunity for T1.

"Come over and take this dragon!"

Although neither the mid laner nor the jungler had their summoner spells or ultimate abilities, the opponent was down a person, and it was their jungler at that.

There was no reason not to take this dragon.

As long as they could disrupt the dragon tempo, the fastest EDG could force a Dragon Soul fight would be at 25 minutes, and an Elder Dragon fight at 30 minutes.

The situation, which had been on the verge of collapse,

suddenly seemed to clear up after Viktor used himself as bait.

"Are we going to the Rift Herald?" Meiko asked aloud.

"I feel like we can try," Ye Bo replied, "At the very least, I can attempt to steal it."

"Then let's go!"

The group didn't waste any more words and moved out together.

Ye Bo's confidence was not unfounded.

Once Maokai used all his abilities, he didn't actually have much combat power unless his W managed to root a key carry.

Viktor, on the other hand, still had strong combat power in this kind of positional fight even without his ultimate.

But neither of them had Flash this time.

As long as they could engage, there was still a good chance to secure a kill.

What's more, he was Nunu—with a max-level Q ability that dealt a full 1200 points of true damage to monsters!

An evolved Smite only dealt 900 points of true damage.

Furthermore, there was no Baron on the map, so even if he failed the steal, the worst-case scenario was acceptable.

And the most important core of running the Cat system was to accelerate the tempo and try not to let the game go past 30 minutes.

Therefore, this dragon, which would grant a soul point, was crucial.

Once the Cat's power was fully unleashed, it would demonstrate what an overpowered champion in the current patch really was; only then might it truly be the beginning of a comeback.

Since there was risk either way.

Ye Bo believed that attempting it now was actually the moment with the least risk.

"EDG doesn't seem to be backing down! Are they trying to 4v5!?"

"Not necessarily. It's possible they just want to cover Nunu as he tries to steal it. After all, Maokai doesn't have his ultimate, so it's actually hard to lock anyone down."

"Nunu swapped to Cleanse? Huh? Why not swap to Smite?"

Just past 15 minutes, the dragon respawned.

Seeing Nunu swap {Flash} for {Cleanse}, T1 already guessed that the opponent wanted to fight.

But because they were worried about the respawned Viego arriving, they couldn't stall for too long and had to start the dragon immediately.

"Pull it out to fight, watch out for Renata's ultimate, and keep an eye on the Yeti!" Li Xianghe marked signals methodically.

"I can go mark him!" Zeus volunteered.

But Nunu had not yet appeared on the screen.

The dragon's health plummeted.

The EDG members weren't worried about the opponent forcing an engage; after all, they had Renata's ultimate for a counter-engage, and if Camille dared to jump in alone, she would easily become isolated.

At this moment, Nunu had already quietly pushed a snowball from the outer wall below the dragon pit.

"Use your ultimate to zone them!"

Renata understood and sprayed out the Chemtech toxic mist forward.

The T1 members were perfectly disciplined, quickly and neatly pulling back.

But just then, the vision in the brush outside the red buff above the dragon pit suddenly caught a snow-white figure.

"Yeti! Yeti! Yeti! The Yeti is here!"

That figure pushing the snowball was moving extremely fast, and he had even used {Cleanse} out of thin air to gain the {Nimbus Cloak} speed boost, his movement speed skyrocketing with the nitro boost!

The only strange thing was... Nunu's position.

Was he planning to push the ball in a wide arc?

One had to know, the outer wall of the dragon pit was a sharp turn of over 180 degrees.

Could a snowball really go around like that?

But Zeus didn't think too much; without the slightest hesitation, he used his long-range hook shot against the wall, preparing to kick in and intercept!

Yet, at the very moment the hook shot was launched.

That figure pushing the snowball flashed with an eerie golden light—he had actually "flashed" down from the wall!

More accurately.

He had flashed down while pushing a giant snowball.

Camille's kick missed its mark, but the three people and one cat behind her were in big trouble!

They had seen Nunu and were still wondering how he would get around that wall.

No one would have thought that Nunu could actually come down like that!

There was no reaction time at all; the giant snowball hit them like an ice nuclear warhead, knocking all three into the air!

He followed up with an Everfrost root on the spot.

【Absolute Zero】 channeled, condensing a terrifying blizzard!

Even more terrifying was that the Chemtech toxic mist from behind had already spread over.

"What is this! It's over! It exploded!" the Roaring Emperor shouted in disbelief.

"Ahhhhh! It's a bug!" Wolf, sitting next to him, let out a marmot-like scream.

It was nothing like his earlier behavior of pretending to be dead and silent after realizing the Maw of Malmortius hadn't triggered.

And just as his voice trailed off, the game suddenly froze into a gray-screen pause.

"It's paused! It's paused! This is a bug!"

"Nunu's W can't use Flash! If he used it, it's a bug!"

Five shouts of alarm immediately rang out in T1's team voice chat.

The one who called the pause was 【T1-Keria】, because he was the idle Cat.

The referee didn't even need to ask for the reason and walked straight toward the EDG side to inquire.

Because the "Nunu snowball flash" maneuver had actually appeared as early as 2019.

At the time, it was indeed only possible due to a bug with {Hextech Flashtraption}.

But the Hextech Flashtraption of that time wasn't developed for Nunu; the earliest instances were actually Sion's ultimate "crazy 365-degree turn," Lissandra's E-Hextech E thousand-mile flash, or even Ornn's W through walls.

It was just that Nunu left the deepest impression.

And the Hextech Flashtraption bug had been fixed back in 2019, so clearly, even if Ye Bo wanted to use it, he couldn't.

Therefore, the referee who came to inquire even had a tone of curiosity.

"How did you do that?"

Ye Bo openly used the competition computer's specialized software to recreate the operation.

In fact, this was something he had just discovered himself.

It all started from the first time he used Ghost to chase down Camille.

At that time, after he pressed the Ghost he had swapped to using 【Unsealed Spellbook】, he suddenly keenly noticed that his originally grayed-out Flash... had lit up!

When he swapped spells the second time, he specifically paid attention and found that it was indeed the case.

That was why he thought of this maneuver.

"I guess that perhaps the spell swapped by Unsealed Spellbook, after being used and changing back to Flash, is mechanically equivalent to swapping to a 'new spell,' which is why it unlocked the usage. After all, during the W channel, one is already supposed to be able to use all summoner spells except for the original Flash..."

Ye Bo spoke eloquently to the referee, explaining his understanding and hypothesis.

He hadn't actually thought that much about it just now; he just felt that this was a maneuver that fit the mechanical principles.

He hadn't expected it to cause a pause.

The referee finished carefully reviewing the principle.

They were clearly a bit stunned as well, falling into thought.

Whether it was a bug or a mechanic was truly hard to judge.

Does Cassiopeia's "reverse R-Flash," which Riot explicitly labeled as a bug and fixed, count as a bug?

Does Jayce's E "knock back to original position," which might be fixed in the future, count as a bug?

Lee Sin's Q-ward hop-W then Q again, which allows him to use all other abilities in the air during the second Q, does that count as a bug?

These are all techniques widely used by many professional players; is it really up to how many people use them, or who uses them, to decide if it's a bug?

Therefore.

The tournament referee's judgment on bugs generally only has one rule—

"As long as the ability's text description doesn't explicitly say it can't be done, then it can be done."

In other words, the League version of "everything not forbidden by law is permitted."

By this standard.

It was clear that Nunu's W ability text didn't contain any description like "Flash cannot be used during the channel."

The on-site referee quickly realized the implications.

Mainly, even the Maw of Malmortius, which was clearly a bug, hadn't been restricted.

To impose temporary restrictions on an operation that truly cannot be confirmed as a bug right now is clearly an unfair decision.

This is New York, not South Korea; how could there be any justification for adding rules on the fly?

Even if it really needs to be changed, that is a matter for after this match is finished.

Soon, the final result was relayed to the various commentary desks.

The Roaring Emperor's expression was somewhat shocked, but his professionalism allowed him to quickly adjust his emotions.

"First, let me update everyone on the situation: according to the judgment of the on-site referees, it is confirmed that there are no issues with the match and no game bugs occurred."

"In that case, perhaps we are witnessing a brand-new, created operational technique!"

Before the Roaring Emperor could finish, the countdown to return had already begun in the arena.

Wolf hadn't even recovered his senses yet, and he already saw the five members of T1 knocked up by a snowball, then hit by Glacial Augment, and then followed up with poison mist.

Absolute Zero charged with wind and snow.

Earth-shattering, a moment of proximity, a triple kill echoing through the canyon!

Wolf opened his mouth wide, his face full of shock: "Pizza! This is totally pizza!"

"What on earth is Ye trying to do! Is he trying to destroy T1's home!?"

The sentiment in the live chat suddenly shifted.

The two groups of people from just a moment ago almost instantly swapped faces.

【Just wanted to say where are you E-ing, holy crap, nice brother, way to go!】

【Unfair, this is unfair! Damn it, this is unfair! Rematch! Rematch!】

【Fine, fine, another rematch, right? Are you addicted to MSI rematches?】

【This is our T1 legendary rematch team; anyway, if they can't win, they just rematch. They can rematch with 35ms latency, they can rematch if there's an operation you don't know about—might as well just rematch until they're nine-time champions!】

【Damn it! I strongly suggest Riot adds a rule: all strange operations must be reported in advance, otherwise they should be treated as hacks and result in an immediate forfeit!】

【Agreed, I also suggest adding a rule: from now on, if you switch screens more than 10 times, you get deducted 300 gold, and if you play a match without a skin, you forfeit! This is a matter that affects Riot's skin sales!】

【If there's going to be a rollback, shouldn't it be from the moment the Viego died? Classic: when it's unfair to themselves it's trivial, when it's unfair to the enemy they fight over every inch!】

Hearing the announcement, the T1 members on the other side also calmed down.

They naturally knew that in a match of this scale, there couldn't be any accidental factors; everything is verified afterward, and there's no possibility of it being fake.

That is to say.

That was indeed a "technique" that could be replicated.

This presented a very terrifying fact.

This meant the opponents could do it again next time!

What's more, after this wave, the balance of the match had actually tilted completely to the end.

EDG scored a quadra kill and turned to successfully take the second Rift Herald.

They charged straight up the exposed top lane inhibitor and smashed the crystal in one go!

With one inhibitor destroyed, it meant someone would be forced to be tied to the top half of the map, constantly needing to deal with a wave of super minions.

Their already strained team operations completely lost balance.

T1 could only helplessly begin a turtle strategy, and the gold gap grew wider and wider.

20 minutes and 30 seconds.

EDG took the Ocean Soul on time and turned to attack the Baron.

The five members of T1 simply cleared the inhibitor wave and gathered to prepare for a desperate resistance.

But, when they walked into the river and saw Nunu pushing a snowball toward them again.

The five of them instantly had their hair stand on end!

However, they didn't know how the operation was triggered; in fact, this Nunu didn't use Unsealed Spellbook.

"Spread out, spread out!" Li Xianghe ignored everything else and directed the Maokai to step forward and intercept: "Interrupt him, catch him and we can kill him!"

So what if he has Flash-W? Wouldn't it be fine if we just interrupt the snowball?

Oner decisively flashed diagonally to W-hug Nunu.

But Nunu used "Flash-W" again.

Only this time, it wasn't a Flash-W while "pushing the snowball"—but rather letting go of the snowball first, then "reverse flashing" behind him!

"Discard-Ball W-Flash"!

The giant snowball rolled forward, its deterrent power fully forcing back the enemy forces pressing from behind.

And the Twisted Treant... was followed closely by a flash and dragged back into the crowd!

So you're the only one who can use yourself as bait, huh?

"Nunu's fishing enforcement! He brought the Maokai back, the Maokai is deleted!"

"EDG is going to start the Baron directly—wait, no!?"

"What is Nunu doing!"

A max-level W from Yuumi can grant both the rider and the mount 21% of their ability power.

With the support of a full-build Luden's on the AP Yuumi, Viktor's growth up to now meant his damage could no longer be underestimated.

And Viktor's most powerful terrain is the positional warfare in the Baron and Dragon pits.

Faker accelerated with Yuumi's ultimate to charge forward, E-R laser split-shot into the pit, and simultaneously laid down a Gravity Field at the entrance to block the path, sealing the five enemies inside the pit!

But just at this moment... inside the EDG pit, three flashes of golden light suddenly blinked outward!

Three flashes escaped the pit, and Kalista grabbed the Pokéball and charged straight in!

Li Xianghe was not alarmed but delighted.

"They're desperate, retreat, retreat, pull back first!"

Viktor single-handedly forced out three of the opponent's flashes and two ultimates, and also prevented them from taking the Baron, while also gaining a health advantage.

As long as the opponent didn't dare to continue taking the Baron this time, the loss of the jungler could be compensated for, and there would be another chance.

The four of them fled toward their own blue buff area.

But Li Xianghe suddenly noticed one thing.

Someone was missing.

Immediately after, just as the T1 members stepped into the entrance of their own jungle, everyone instantly felt their feet freeze as if covered in frost, making it difficult to move.

There were no changes in vision or special effects.

But everyone knew what this was.

"Damn it!"

"Nunu!!! Nunu!!!"

After walking into the pit, Nunu didn't take the Baron, but instead used the ward he had planted earlier while taking advantage of the top lane minion wave to quietly TP behind them.

Nunu walked the minion wave into the jungle, then used Hexflash through the wall to charge up.

He lurked in the entrance bush.

This spot could perfectly cover the entire entrance area of the jungle.

And when the T1 members had just passed through, they had already swept this area and had no precautions.

Of course.

The main thing was that they absolutely never expected that there would be a Nunu who, under such circumstances, would perform a completely unexpected TP-flank.

And the three people who flashed out from the pit... were naturally just to drive the prey into the frozen hell.

The terrifying, fully-charged Absolute Zero seemed to want to freeze every living thing within its range.

Snowflakes filled the sky, mixed with the color of blood.

Except for Yuumi, who died a step slower.

The five members of T1 soon met again at the fountain.

The five members of EDG went straight through the destroyed top lane inhibitor, pushed all the way, and smashed T1's main base crystal into fragments!

The giant "VICTORY" characters appeared behind the red side players' seats.

In an instant, the whole arena erupted!

(End of chapter)